Klaus

I think you have created a nice resource collection here for anyone who wants to try sharks without baiting! I agree on the dose-effect and greenwashing risks, but I suppose we can start way before the bait-box with that. Hence I would not want to break into an ethical discussion because someone publishes a respectful (!) picture of a shark that has been baited; this may have been a minor contribution to the total impact of the journey. I throughly enjoyed a dive with big groupers on Madeira this summer, although they were clearly way more accustomed to divers than they should be. Whatever their routine may be, or have been in the past - it is for vacationers like me. And it was a cool photo opportunity! So I‘m not that much „better“, if at all.

I am afraid that there is no place left on this planet where human influence is NOT happening. Thus, we can only resort to finding the best compromise rather than dreaming about an ideal scenario. Eco-tourism is an oxymoron, but some ways of doing it are certainly better than others. And the mere fact of flying around the globe to reach a remote location is creating more of our problems - so the baiting may to be that much of an add-on. We will only protect (sort of) what we know, can experience and love, I think Sir David said that first. There’s no shortcut here: Even conservation efforts WILL leave a footprint. But less so than brutal exploitation. For the animals like sharks it has been said above: They must be worth more alive, or else they will be slaughtered and sold. This just does not work without baiting, and there is no point arguing with fundamental economic principles. You cannot run a shark expedition with negligible chances of seeing a shark. That said, I have not been able to really accept this and perhaps will never join such a trip. But that is personal choice and I do indeed find it slightly reassuring that baiting at least still works… Annotating the pictures is certainly a good option, even more if you include the name of responsible operators. The animals are NOT less fascinating when they have been baited, so there is no need to hide it.

I think it has a better emphasis on the eyes, to me it tells a more focused „story“. I prefer the darker version. With a snoot I guess you might get the „eyelashes“ above the eyes to pop a bit more out of the BG, but that must be daunting to position the beam just right…

Really nice image! Wouldn‘t the darkening be achievable in post processing? I assume that does not give the same result as a snoot, but it may be worth a try. And then you can „dose“ the level of darkness in different effect strengths. It will require a lot of clicking to make the mask around all the fine features, but maybe on a rainy day… at least the crab will stay put 😉

All right, here are the pics. You can see the slave sensor in front view, then the diffuser with the corresponding hole. I restricted it just a bit with a piece of silicon hose - holds the fibre optic plug just fine. But for using it without the diffuser, I would need to slave it off another strobe, I think that can be a bit dicey. Hence some kind of a holder would be great. I included 2 images with a centimeter scale, this is only for a rough idea in the dimensions. As said before, an existing design would be great. Cheers, Klaus

Sorry, the strobe is stored in a room where we are currently hosting visitors- will take a few more day yet until I can take a picture. I imagine this to be a sort of slip-on ring, like the wide end of a snoot, that has a small inner ring on the side where you can place the fiber optic cable. But I am really only asking if someone already HAS a design for such a thing. For a custom development I think I could ask some friends… and do some testing … Hence a tried-and-true design would be preferred. Klaus

I found a Sea&Sea YS-120 strobe and it works well by placing a fibre optic cable into the corresponding hole of the diffuser. I would like to use the strobe also without the diffuser - has anyone in this community designed a ring-like holder or whatever device that allows to hold a cable in front of the slave sensor on that strobe? I would very much appreciate obtaining (or posting in response) the corresponding file.

Quick question, maybe off-topic: How is the pilot light affected by the fly eye microprisms ? Is it weaker, less defined or is it similar between the two models?

I once read in a forum that this is/was a frequent issue with the shutter on the E-PL3. Apparently, a hearty whack on your knee (or two) could get those back into operation. Unfortunately I can't find that thread anymore. I never tried it myself, obviously this is not exactly the kind of treatment that the Olympus manual suggests and I would not try this as the new "power-on routine". I guess getting it repaired is the most reliable solution, but the "whacking" might save you when you're on a trip?

I think you can directly link this to the DIY section 😉

My favorite pic this year is rom a dive in a local quarry. My wife and son didn't want to join me for a dive there (as almost always) because "it's cold and there's only dead wood and no fish". I found a buddy through the social media site of a local dive center and we enojoyed a really cool dive. A storm had broken off some branches from the trees just a few days before and that made the scenery a bit "surreal" in places. I'm cheating a bit but just to add a picture for the "feeling" of that dive. The favorite pic is the last one I took on that day, just before we were getting out - a simple look along the edge. I like it because of the landscape and because I accidentally even had a very small pike in it (see if you can find it). Technically, the shot is a horribly underexposed mess, but I was astonished how much I could pull it up from the raw-file. I'm giving a second life to old photography gear for my attemps at underwater shooting. This is an Olympus E-PL5 in the PT-EP05L housing (fits with some customization), the 14-42 RII kit zoom and an Inon UWL-H100 wetlens without the dome (let me know if you have a dome to sell!)

I can already see that new full frame kit ….

I really like the solution with the readers that Ben presented - maybe not ideal for any situation but likely good enough for a lot. Certainly as a low-threshold entry into the aging photographer theme 🙂 I have two questions, Ben: 1) Did the add-on glasses ever get in the way with your regulator? I suppose this could happen when they slip down below the mask, but I simply cannot wrap my head around if that would cause a problem or not. 2) glass lenses lose a lot of their refractive power in water vs. air because water is much denser. I suppose this is similar for the plastic lenses In the readers, though some of those materials have a higher refractive index than glass. In any case, I assume that you are using stronger lenses than for reading above water, how much stronger would you suggest as a first try? Thanks, Klaus

First of all, I think this is a really nice shot and the pose of the octopus(?) is really cool. You probably tried cropping out just this guy in a vertical, maybe even b/w. Almost looks like (s)he’s ashamed of skinny-dipping… I don’t know a lot about UW photography, but I am not sure that more shadows necessarily translates into greater perceived depth. Your strobe is off-center already (towards the top left, shadows are a bit to the bottom right). I think the suggestion to go a bit lower yet is a good one, maybe it’s not that easy when freediving to try a couple of different angles. But as said above, definitely a great moment to capture!

... a (northen) German way to say Hi. Nice to be in good company!